Shelter From the Storm
by theboywiththebread
Summary: Ivan doesn't know whether to be nervous or excited that he'll be sharing a room with his crush, Yao, for school camp. As much as he longs to be near Yao, Ivan is scared of making a fool out of himself in front of the other boy. RoChu. Oneshot. AU.


**Author's note: I started writing this story about a month ago and then sort of abandoned it, but yesterday I was looking through some of my documents and found it, so I figured I might as well finish it off. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ivan didn't know whether to be terrified or delighted that he was going to be bunking with Yao Wang for school camp. He'd known that there was a chance it could happen, since the camps were organized by the school's Physical Education department and Yao and Ivan were in the same class for that subject, but he didn't think that such a pleasant coincidence could or would actually take place.

Even though it was like something out of one of Ivan's fantasies, he was nervous about it. Could he really spend the next two nights sharing a room with Yao? What if he did something to embarrass himself in front of Yao? What if he talked about him in his sleep? He often dreamed about the pretty Chinese boy, and if he vocalized any of his unconscious thoughts about him, then any chance of Yao liking him was ruined.

Despite everything that could go wrong, Ivan was quite excited about sharing a room with Yao. He had been infatuated with the gorgeous darkhaired boy ever since he had moved to town and started going to the same school as Ivan. They had several classes together, and Ivan's favourite was PE, not because he actually liked the subject — he was very strong but not particularly agile and thought that a lot of the sports they played in class were fairly dumb — but because it gave him a chance to sneak glimpses at Yao as he changed from his regular clothes into the t-shirt and shorts he wore for PE and back again. Ivan remembered back when they'd been doing swimming in class, how wonderful it had been to see Yao awkwardly try to change from his boxers into his swimming trunks without exposing his body. He always managed it, somehow, and he would always take a shower afterwards to rinse the chlorine out of his long, beautiful hair. He left his trunks on during the shower, unfortunately, but it was still fun to discretely watch.

Ivan sat on top of his suitcase in the corner of the room, waiting for Yao to arrive. He wondered who had been responsible for putting them in a room together — the teachers in charge had probably tried their hardest not to have Ivan bunk with someone he didn't get along with, which ruled out quite a few people, but perhaps his longing for Yao was more obvious than he thought it was. They wouldn't have been allowed to sleep in a room together if his crush on Yao was too obvious, would they? Surely they'd want to minimize the chance of any illicit acts happening, although Ivan wasn't planning anything of the sort. No, he just wanted to be near Yao, and maybe get a little bit closer to him. Although Yao occupied Ivan's thoughts ever so often, as far as Ivan knew, Yao was barely even aware that he existed.

Ivan heard the door open and looked up to see Yao coming into the room, carrying a suitcase.

"Yao! You're here. I waited until you got here to get settled in so that you could choose whether you want the top bunk or the bottom one," said Ivan.

"Oh, that's very nice of you, but I don't mind. Top, bottom, I can do either," said Yao, setting his suitcase down on the floor beside Ivan's.

Ivan knew that Yao was talking about bunks, but he couldn't help but think of the _other_ meaning of topping and bottoming, the sexual one. He'd thought about sex with Yao, although he knew there was only a one in a million chance of it happening, and considered who would top if they ever did it. He wasn't really sure which one of them it would be — he had no idea what their relationship would be like if they had one, so it was hard to tell.

"Well, you can choose whatever you want," said Ivan, smiling brightly at Yao.

It was easier to be friendly when Yao was the only person there — Ivan had always been too shy to talk to him during class when there were lots of other people around. That was kind of weird, because Ivan was never shy around anyone else.

"I guess I'll have the bottom bunk, if you don't mind," said Yao, sitting down on the lower bunk bed.

"That's fine with me. I actually like the top bunk better," said Ivan.

Yao unzipped his suitcase and took out his sleeping bag, pillow and pyjamas. Inside the suitcase, Ivan could see the rest of Yao's things, including what looked like a pair of pink Hello Kitty print boxers. Ivan had never seen Yao wearing that sort of thing before — he'd spied Yao's underwear countless times before as the longhaired boy changed for PE, but perhaps he intentionally wore plain pairs on the days he had PE so that nobody would see his cute kitty ones and make fun of him for it.

"So," said Ivan, sitting down on the edge of Yao's bed, "are you liking camp so far?"

"We've only just arrived, but I quite liked the train ride here, and the room is nice, so I guess I'm enjoying myself," said Yao.

"That's good. I liked the train ride too, but the windows were too reflective. I wanted to look at all the pretty scenery, but I could see my face staring back at me," said Ivan.

"Yeah, I noticed that too," said Yao.

They sat for a moment in what Ivan hoped was comfortable silence — he would hate it if Yao felt awkward around him.

"Do you… um…" said Ivan, trying to think of something interesting to say, "do you have a girlfriend?"

Yao shook his head. "No. I had a boyfriend at my old school, but we never did anything more than hold hands. What about you?" he asked.

"You had a boyfriend?" asked Ivan.

"Oh… yeah. Yeah, I did. And yes, I am gay. I hope that doesn't make us rooming together awkward," said Yao.

"Oh, no! Not at all! If you must know, I'm… don't tell anyone about this, but I kinda… think that I might be gay as well," said Ivan.

He hadn't planned on telling Yao that — he hadn't planned on telling anyone, really — but considering what the other boy had just told him, Ivan felt that he could trust him.

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to about it, you can talk to me," said Yao, giving Ivan a friendly smile.

That smile made Ivan's heart soar, not just because it was beautiful, but because it was directed at him. He wanted more than anything to wrap his arms around the gorgeous boy and hold him close to his body, but he resisted the urge. Ivan didn't want Yao to think that he was weird, especially now that he knew Yao had dated a boy before — although it was still unlikely, there was a chance that Yao would want to go out with him.

It was a secret hope of Ivan's that he'd had for quite some time, that for some reason — Ivan wasn't actually sure what that reason would be — Yao would like him, want to be his friend, want to be _more_ than friends. Maybe he'd had a crush on Ivan for a long time, or maybe it was something that he had realized only moments before telling him, but it was a recurring theme in Ivan's daydreams. Of course, he knew the difference between fantasy and reality, and knew that it was unlikely that Yao would feel the same way about him.

There was a knock at the door, and before either Ivan or Yao could reply, it opened, and in walked their PE teacher, Mr Ford, who was in charge of running the camp.

"Are you boys getting settled in?" he asked.

Ivan and Yao both nodded.

"Good, good. In a few minutes there'll be a thorough inspection of everyone's bunk rooms, including bags and suitcases, so if you have any food, electronic devices or other banned items, you'll need to turn them in now if you want to get them back at the end of camp," said Mr Ford.

"Yes, sir," said Yao, and Mr Ford left the room.

"Ha, good thing I've got my iPod hidden in my coat pocket. Unless of course they strip search us, but I doubt they're even allowed to do that," said Ivan.

Although Ivan was confident that his illicit item was safely hidden, he noticed that Yao was looking rather worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked the smaller boy.

"Well, first of all I've got my phone and some chocolate with me, so I'll need to hide that somewhere, but I also don't want anyone going through my bag," said Yao.

"Why not? Is there something in there you don't want people seeing? If there is, I can help you hide it. There's lots of room in my coat," said Ivan.

"That would be nice. I mean, it's nothing weird or perverted I just… people at this school are so judgemental," said Yao, rummaging through his suitcase for things that he might want to hide.

"They are, aren't they? I promise I won't judge you for whatever it is," said Ivan.

"I didn't mean I thought you were like that," said Yao, "anyway, here are my things."

He handed Ivan a few items from his suitcase — the phone and chocolate bar he had mentioned before, as well as the pink Hello Kitty boxers that Ivan had spotted and a panda plushie.

Ivan unbuttoned his coat and set about hiding the items in his pockets. The panda plushie made a rather suspicious bulge, but none of the other items were noticeable at all.

"Thanks, Ivan. You're really nice," said Yao.

It wasn't long before Mr Ford came back to inspect their room, and found nothing suspicious in their suitcases or anywhere in the room. However, just as he was about to leave, the panda slipped out of Ivan's inner coat pocket and fell out of his clothing.

"Ivan, what's that?" asked Mr Ford.

"It's Mister Panda, he's my little friend. I didn't know how the room checks were going to be done and I didn't want another student to see him and think I'm a wimp because I still sleep with a teddy bear," Ivan lied.

Mr Ford furrowed his brows.

"Are you hiding anything else in that coat of yours?" he asked.

Ivan knew that he looked guilty, and he didn't want Mr Ford to search his coat and find everything, so he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a single item.

"Sorry, I forgot we weren't allowed these and didn't want to get it taken off me," he said, handing the teacher his iPod.

"Thank you for being honest, Ivan. You'll get it back when camp is over," said Mr Ford, turning to leave the room.

"You didn't have to give him your iPod, you could have just pretended you were hiding my chocolate or underwear," said Yao once their teacher had left the room.

"It's fine, I don't really need it," said Ivan.

"Still, that was very kind of you, and thanks for saying that Mister Panda is yours," said Yao.

Ivan picked the panda toy up from where it had fallen on the floor.

"His name isn't really Mister Panda, is it?" he asked, handing the plushie to Yao.

"Well, no, but he doesn't have one, and that's as good a name as any," said the other boy.

He sat down on his bunk, and Ivan sat down beside him.

"So why have you got Mister Panda with you? I assumed he was a special bear from your childhood that you couldn't stand to leave at home, but since children usually like to name their toys, I'm curious as to what his story is," said Ivan.

"I got him for my birthday last year. I really like pandas, so my grandma bought him for me," said Yao, "I think he's cute."

Ivan had to restrain himself from saying _I think you're cute_.

"He is pretty cute. Hey, I'll give you back your other things," said Ivan, pulling Yao's chocolate, phone and boxers from his coat pockets.

"Thanks for hiding him. Do you want me to share the chocolate with you?" asked Yao, leaving the unopened block on his lap as he put the other things in his suitcase.

"I'd like that," said Ivan.

He liked chocolate, and although it wasn't his absolute favourite food, he was sure that since it was Yao's, it would taste delicious.

Ivan watched as the Chinese boy ripped open the packaging the snapped the block of chocolate in half, handing half of it to him.

"Enjoy," said Yao.

Ivan took a bite out of his side of the block as he watched Yao do the same. It was hard to tell which he liked more — the taste of the chocolate or the way that Yao looked as he chewed, so lovely and adorable.

Ivan was sure that he was going to enjoy sharing a room with Yao.

* * *

Ivan turned the shower off and noticed for the first time that it was raining. The sound of the raindrops pounding against the roof had been drowned out by the sound of his shower doing the same thing to the floor, but now he could hear clearly that there was quite a storm going on outside.

Ivan wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of the shower stall. He was pleased to find that his clothes were exactly where he had left them — he'd heard the idiot boys in some of his classes talking about how funny it would be steal people's clothes while they were using the camp showers, although he was pretty sure that they were just joking.

Ivan put on his pyjamas and walked back to the room where he and Yao were staying.

"Jeez, knock before barging into the room," said Yao, who was wearing a pair of panda print boxers and an unbuttoned Hello Kitty pyjama top.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm not looking," said Ivan, averting his eyes and climbing up the ladder to his bunk, where he lay down facing the wall.

"It's fine, it's not like I was fully naked or anything," said Yao.

"Aren't you going to have a shower?" asked Ivan, resisting the urge to peek at Yao.

"No, I usually shower in the morning so I'll have one then," he said.

Ivan thought about changing his shower schedule so that he would end up showering at the same time as Yao, but decided against it. He didn't want to seem stalker-ish.

"You can look now," said Yao, and Ivan rolled over so that he was looking over the edge of his bunk.

Yao was standing a few rungs up the ladder, his face mere inches away from Ivan's.

"Can I come up?" he asked.

"Of course," said Ivan, sitting up and moving over a little so that there was enough space for Yao beside him.

Yao climbed up onto Ivan's bunk and sat down beside him. The pyjamas that he was wearing were a little too big for him; his feet only just poked out of the ends of the baggy pant legs, and his hands were completely obscured by his sleeves.

"So, what did you think of dinner?" asked Yao.

Ivan shrugged.

"It was okay, I guess," said Ivan.

He'd turned up late to dinner and hadn't been able to sit with Yao, but for the entire meal he'd been stealing discrete glances at the other boy.

"I didn't think there was enough, and then on top of that Alfred kept stealing my nachos. Aside from that it was very nice, though," said Yao.

More than anything, Ivan wanted to touch Yao; to lean his head against his shoulder, to put his arm around his shoulder, to hold Yao in his arms. Yao was so little compared to the Russian, and Ivan could imagine how the Chinese boy's petite body would feel in his own strong arms.

All of a sudden, the light flickered and turned off.

"I guess the storm knocked the power out. I'll go switch the light off just so it doesn't turn back on in the middle of the night and wake us," said Yao.

Ivan could feel the body beside him leave as he listened to the rain pounding even harder against the roof.

"I'm feeling a little tired," he heard Yao say below, "I think I'm going to go to sleep now. Goodnight, Ivan."

"Goodnight Yao," Ivan said, lying down and pulling his thick quilt over his body. The spot where Yao had been sitting was nice and warm, and it didn't take long for Ivan to get comfortable. Although he rather liked the sound of rain on the roof, Ivan wished that it would die down so that he could hear Yao breathing and have a constant reassurance that he was still there. It didn't matter, though; Ivan was happy just knowing that Yao was lying on the bunk below him, wearing those ridiculous baggy pyjamas that made him look even smaller and cuter than usual.

Ivan's pleasant thoughts of Yao were interrupted by a flash of lightning that was accompanied by a loud, thunderous boom. Ivan couldn't stop himself from letting out a frightened yelp — he'd always been terrified of thunderstorms, ever since he was a child.

"Are you okay?" he heard Yao ask from below.

"I… not really," said Ivan, "I don't like thunder and lightning."

"Are you scared of it?" Yao asked.

"I guess you could say that," said Ivan. He felt stupid admitting that to Yao; he wanted the other boy to think that he was cool and fearless.

"It's okay to be scared of thunder," said Yao, his voice much closer this time.

Ivan reached out and ended up placing his hand on the other boy's shoulder. Yao must have gotten out of bed and climbed up to see if he was okay.

"It seems kind of childish, though," said Ivan.

"No it doesn't, everyone is afraid of something. What do you usually do when there's a thunderstorm?" asked Yao.

Ivan felt even more childish and stupid admitting it, but he told Yao the truth anyway.

"My big sister lets me sleep in her bed so that I won't have to be alone," he said quietly.

Yao didn't laugh like most people would have; instead, he placed his hand over Ivan's reassuringly.

"If it helps, you can come down to my bunk and sleep next to me," he said.

Ivan's fear dissipated as he thought about the prospect of spending the night lying next to Yao.

"I think that would help a lot," he said.

"Okay, grab your blanket and pillow and come down," said Yao.

Ivan grabbed his things and carefully descended the ladder. Down below, Yao had gotten out his phone to use as a light, and the two of them set about putting Ivan's pillow and blanket next to Yao's.

"Thanks for this, Yao," Ivan said as he climbed into bed.

"It's fine," said Yao, getting in next to him and turning the phone off.

Just as Ivan was settling in and enjoying Yao's warmth and closeness, there was another crack of thunder. Ivan whimpered and then mentally scolded himself for being so pathetic.

"Hey, it's alright," Yao said in a calm, soothing voice, "you don't have to be scared."

"Thank you for letting be stay in your bed tonight," Ivan said, "you didn't have to do that, but you did and I really appreciate it. Also, you didn't laugh or make fun of me like other kids would have."

"Of course I wouldn't laugh at you. Everyone gets scared sometimes, and besides, you're a really nice person," said Yao.

Ivan scoffed. Him, a nice person?

"Why do you think that?" he asked.

"Well, earlier today you hid my things in your coat, but I thought you were nice long before that. There was this one time, you probably don't even remember it, that I was running late for class, and you were late too but it was because you'd been to see the school counsellor and you had a note from her, and we both went into the class at the same time, and you handed the note to the teacher and said _Yao and I went to see Mrs Finnegan about something_, and I didn't get in trouble for being late," said Yao.

Ivan remembered that day — Yao had thanked him for it, but he never would have dreamed that he would actually remember it.

"I remember doing that," said Ivan.

"Really? Well… no, never mind," said Yao.

"What were you going to say?" Ivan asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter," said Yao.

"No, tell me. You can't just almost say something and then change your mind, that's not fair," said Ivan.

"Fine, but it's kind of embarrassing and it'll probably make things really awkward," said Yao.

"I'm sure it won't, but I'll never know if you don't tell me," said Ivan. He was really curious about what Yao had been planning to say, and he knew that if the other boy didn't say it, he would keep wondering about it forever.

"Well, since that day, I've always kind of liked you. Not just thought you were a cool person that I'd like to be friends with, but _liked_ you," Yao confessed.

Ivan was shocked. Yao liked him? Yao, the most beautiful and lovely person in the whole school liked _him_?

Yao seemed to take his silence as a bad sign and began apologizing.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything, now you'll feel really awkward around me," he said.

"No, Yao, I… I really like you in that way too," said Ivan.

"You do?" asked Yao.

"So much. I've always thought you were really cool and nice and pretty and stuff," said Ivan.

"Really? That's… do you want, ah… would you be my boyfriend?" asked Yao.

"Of course!" exclaimed Ivan, grabbing Yao in a tight embrace. He had dreamed for so long about holding Yao in his arms, and now it was finally happening and it felt even better than he had imagined.

Yao hugged back, and Ivan moved so that one of his hands was resting on the side of Yao's face. Carefully, he placed his lips against Yao's and gave the other boy a chaste kiss. Ivan could feel Yao's cheek heat up beneath his hand.

"I'm really glad we ended up sharing a room for camp," Yao murmured.

Ivan grinned.

"So am I," he said.

The rain had died down from a torrential downpour to a light shower, and Ivan was beginning to feel a little tired. Yao also seemed to be tired, judging from the cute little yawn he let out.

"Goodnight, Yao," said Ivan, resting his head against the pillow and closing his eyes.

"Goodnight Ivan," said Yao, giving Ivan a gentle kiss on the forehead before rolling over.

Ivan gave Yao one last kiss on the back of the neck before wrapping his arms around the other boy and settling in for the night. He was glad that things had turned out like this — them sharing a room, the storm happening right when it did, the other boy being kind enough to allow him to sleep next to him and, most of all, Yao confessing that he liked Ivan in the same way that Ivan liked him. It was like something out of one of Ivan's fantasies, only it was real, and that made it better than any dream could ever be.


End file.
